March 10, 2010 > Letter to the editor: Contest appeal for hometown firefighter

Letter to the editor: Contest appeal for hometown firefighter

My name is Christina Marovich and I am the sister of the recently fallen firefighter Tom Marovich Jr., who died tragically last July after falling from a helicopter during a routine training rapelling exercise.

My brother started his training in Fremont with the Fremont Fire Explorers. He was a beautiful young man who died doing what he loved - protecting his friends, family and community from the dangers of fire. The past few months, living without him, have been extremely tough.

TJ's best friend, Paul Lemmon (also a U.S. Forestry firefighter and previous Fremont Fire Explorer), has recently designed a NASCAR car to be made in T.J.'s honor. He entered a NASCAR design contest to make the car. You can see the design at: http://www.sponsafier.com/#/gallery/view/159693. It's entitled "One Life," after the quote my brother used to swear and live by. The car is totally amazing in every way.

We need votes to win this competition, and are currently falling short. According to Lemmon, the top 10 designs will be considered for building, but the top design has about 30,000 votes, and right now we are at about 400.

We hope you can help to honor someone who gave his life for protecting his community.